July 19, 2013 — After efforts to deliver disaster aid to fishermen came up short last year, members of the U.S. Senate renewed hope Thursday for an aid package by including $150 million in a Senate Appropriations Committee bill that still must wend its way through Congress to become law.
Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who chairs the committee, included the funds in the bill, according to Sen. Elizabeth Warren's office.
The funds could eventually help families in Massachusetts employed in the fishing industry and struggling through reduced catch limits in connection with the September 2012 disaster declarations for several fisheries.
The bill also directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to use revenues from seafood import duties on fisheries research, as is required under the 1954 Saltonstall-Kennedy Act.
Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times